[Discussion] SAYGUS V2

[limpopo]

[...]
I had to have this phone the moment I heard about it. These are the reasons:

- Rooted out of the box, and boot from SD card. Every new phone I get I root it. This saves me that step.
- Killer battery. When I get a new phone I always buy the best battery available. I don't care if it makes my phone more bulky, battery is more important to me. Since I preregistered, I get a second battery and a screen protector.
- TO me, there is such thing as too big, and having a screen size greater than 5 inches is just mind boggling to me. I have a surface pro 3 tablet with me nearly all the time, so if I need screen size I get my tablet out. I also do not need greater than 1080 resolution. The screen size and quality is perfect for me.
[...]
- Water proof, and has kevlar. I pretty much BABY every device I get and that is stressful. I don't want a drop of rain to ruin my phone for good. This, I can drop it in a bucket of water, leave it there for several minutes, take it out and it will be fine (what they claim).
- Huge storage capabilities, powerful processor, _respectableish_ ram, powerful radios. I can't wait for end of March to come, it's like christmas.

Agree these are nice features.

- I'd love to see a phone manufacture from USA get into the game. If this company gets big, it means more money for economy. If I have to risk $500 bucks, then I'm fine with that. I've made more riskier investments.

In the T&Cs, it is said the manufacturer is "Saygus China" at Hezheng-Huiyi Cheng Xinhu Road Shenzhen 518101, so I would assume the actual manufacturing is done by a Chinese ODM. Perhaps any actual profits will be repatriated to the USA, although Apple has shown that it is more efficient not to pay taxes. At least the founders may get richer, and maybe they will spend money in the USA.

In addition to the features you mention, I am curious how the cameras will work out. Does anyone know the size of the 21 megapixel Sharp sensor used for the rear camera?

I am also wondering about the noise cancellation technology, said to use three microphones and "Cypher Sound Technology". Hitherto, only Qualcomm's Audience chip has really shone in that regard, and for example the Moto X phones, despite having up to four microphones, have performed quite poorly by all accounts.

"Sunlight Viewable Screen" is another spec that needs practical examination. From the hands-on videos I have seen, the panel looks to be quite reflective - probably glossy - but then again the lighting condtions for indoor filming can be challenging.

Software maturity and ongoing support will obviously be very important. I'm unclear to what extent the latest smartphones rely upon closed-source binary drivers to enable their basic functions such as camera etc. How maintainable/hookable are these drivers when third-party ROMs are installed? I assume baseband stuff is more or less "fire and forget".

Build quality, quality control, and warranty support have the potential to be major issues for a small player selling globally while relying upon Chinese manufacturing.

I must say the lack of an ARMv8 SoC is a bit of a disappointment, because for example whole-device encryption seems to be a dog on ARMv7 (see the Nexus 6). The 20nm process may also lead to noticeable efficiency gains, and I suppose Saygus will find itself competing with a 20nm 64-bit ARMv8 Exynos big.LITTLE design.

I am curious about the " Built-inPower Saving Chip – 50% Improved Battery Life". Presumably this is some kind of low-power companion core or DSP to off-load some work from the main Krait 400 cores, but SD 801 already has Qualcomm's Hexagon DSP so I don't know what this supposedly "exclusive" feature could be.

Lots to discover!

 

[adamo86]

Answers to some questions I found in this post:
I just bought the phone two days ago (Order # between 1500-2000).
Looks like they will give me shipping details early March.
They did take the money out of my bank account.

I had to have this phone the moment I heard about it. These are the reasons:

- Rooted out of the box, and boot from SD card. Every new phone I get I root it. This saves me that step.
- Killer battery. When I get a new phone I always buy the best battery available. I don't care if it makes my phone more bulky, battery is more important to me. Since I preregistered, I get a second battery and a screen protector.
- TO me, there is such thing as too big, and having a screen size greater than 5 inches is just mind boggling to me. I have a surface pro 3 tablet with me nearly all the time, so if I need screen size I get my tablet out. I also do not need greater than 1080 resolution. The screen size and quality is perfect for me.
- I'd love to see a phone manufacture from USA get into the game. If this company gets big, it means more money for economy. If I have to risk $500 bucks, then I'm fine with that. I've made more riskier investments.
- Water proof, and has kevlar. I pretty much BABY every device I get and that is stressful. I don't want a drop of rain to ruin my phone for good. This, I can drop it in a bucket of water, leave it there for several minutes, take it out and it will be fine (what they claim).
- Huge storage capabilities, powerful processor, _respectableish_ ram, powerful radios. I can't wait for end of March to come, it's like christmas.

I'm not being paid for this post.

I don't think it's rooted out the box rather I think it's like one plus one where you can root it if you
want but warranty is still valid

 

[jesamyn]

I ordered mine on Wednesday. I was still within the first 2000, if the pre-order number means anything. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Good for me in the sense of getting my device faster, if I'm truly within the first 2000. A little worrying for them if that's all the interest that they've had. Of course, I'm sure there are phone geeks who are interested and just waiting for hands-on reviews of production devices, since the pre-production was shown at CES. I read the T&C and just decided to put it on the CC with the best reputation for taking care of their customers. Said CC has been charged.

It looks like they changed their website regarding root access. It used to say there would be a developer version with root access. Now it says "The V² is sold with root access available making it the choice for developers as well giving them the opportunity to create new programs and applications directly to the V². When root access is enabled Super User (SU) permission is available and custom firmware can be installed." I don't care either way, as long as it's easily available.

 

[Zack.TheDark]

In the T&Cs, it is said the manufacturer is "Saygus China" at Hezheng-Huiyi Cheng Xinhu Road Shenzhen 518101, so I would assume the actual manufacturing is done by a Chinese ODM. Perhaps any actual profits will be repatriated to the USA, although Apple has shown that it is more efficient not to pay taxes. At least the founders may get richer, and maybe they will spend money in the USA.

Man, didn't catch that before. Oh well .


And I do have to agree that description isn't very specific. They riddle off tech that seems nice, but is it really nice? I also wish that it was 64-bit ARMv8, and the 3 gig ram is not really groundbreaking. Investing in a start up smartphone company like this is causing some nail biting on my part as well. Will they keep updating their stuff? Will they be successful enough to remain in business? The biggest part of this for me though is that it isn't that expensive to take that risk. The only part I'm having a problem with is anxiety; hoping I get awesomeness that they talk about.

I don't think it's rooted out the box rather I think it's like one plus one where you can root it if you
want but warranty is still valid

Well, I didn't see anything that was clear on that in any documentation. Even at that, it usually takes me a day to do research on my phone, and figure out whether I want to risk bricking my phone using the hacks from the development community to root a phone. If 1+1 is all I need to do then that's good enough for me.

 

[adamo86]

Have pre-ordered one of these. They say they can make 2,000 phones a week and the ship date is 6-8 weeks from now, so end March time is the target.

My order number is between 1,000 and 1,500, so fingers crossed!

My order number is 939

 

[Vattu]

Their support has quit!

Due to an unforseen issue with my order, I contacted Saygus support. The issue needs to be resolved before deadline today, or I'm cancelling it. The support e-mailed me back (quite quickly, I must admit!) with some questions.

That was 2 days ago. They were very fast responding to my first e-mail, but have as of yet neither done anything to my order, nor contacted me. Yesterday, I mailed them again, concerned that the first might've not reached them. Still no info from them.

Has anyone experienced anything like this, with ANY company?

 

[adamo86]

Does anyone know will there be any taxes involved I'm from UK. Last time I traded privately with someone on xda they sent the phone I had to pay 50pounds tax.

 

[HuskersRule]

I had to do it. Order: #2131. I can't see this being enough orders to get this off the ground. I wouldn't be shocked if we were refunded.

 

[andreas5232]

Does anyone know will there be any taxes involved I'm from UK. Last time I traded privately with someone on xda they sent the phone I had to pay 50pounds tax.

I don't know the import laws for UK, but here in Germany I have to pay only the VAT on the 549$ and shipping cost of the device and no import duty for the Saygus V² coming from US.
Normally you find these information on the websites of your government .

EDIT:
In the FAQ of Saygus it says: "Shipping options will be provided to you via email when your order is ready to ship. Any VAT fees for your respective country that may be required, or taxes, will also be calculated for you."
So, that seems to be nothing to worry about.

 

[adamo86]

Does the countdown 6-8 weeks start as soon as you place the order? Also does anyone know if there are led notification on the device.

 

[andreas5232]

On the Saygus Website under Terms&Conditions it says: "The Saygus V2 Device is expected to be ready to ship on or about March 30, 2015, subject to reasonable delays in manufacturing and/or delivery."
In the Wireless HD demonstration Video, there is a red LED blinking. See here: http://youtu.be/vzjkt2kl2ng?t=3m37s
And if you take a look at one of the official images (you find this on different sites on the internet: http://images.derstandard.at/2014/11/13/saygusfeatures.jpg), there are two LEDs lighting up next to the upper speaker.

Before someone asks:
I'm just really, really interested in the V² and can't wait to get my hands on this awesome piece of hardware.
I am no employee of Saygus and I don't get any money from them for "promoting" their phone or anything else.

 

[frigidazzi]

I had to do it. Order:#2131. I can't see this being enough orders to get this off the ground. I wouldn't be shocked if we were refunded.

I gave in despite my reservations. Order 2093 here. I'm kind of wondering the same thing.

 

[limpopo]

[...]
And if you take a look at one of the official images (you find this on different sites on the internet: http://images.derstandard.at/2014/11/13/saygusfeatures.jpg), there are two LEDs lighting up next to the upper speaker.
.

Your link mentions "Sunlight Viewable Arctic Link III", so I managaed to find http://www.quicklogic.com/platforms/visual-and-display/al3vx/, which describes Arctic Link III, a chip that dynamically adjusts contrast and brightness of the display depending on the ambient light and remaining battery capacity, with the aim of achieveing longer battery life.

I think this explains at least half of the claim that the chipset gives 50% longer battery life. It also explains what is meant by "Sunlight Viewable Screen".

 

[andreas5232]

That sounds great!
As far as I remember they mention the Quicklogic chip in the "Introduction by the Founders" video on youtube also. But they mention only this chipset as the reason, why the V² can save up to 50% of battery.

I think this explains at least half of the claim that the chipset gives 50% longer battery life. It also explains what is meant by "Sunlight Viewable Screen".

Have you found some information that there are other features for saving battery life included or what do you mean by "explains at least half of the claim"?

 

[limpopo]

That sounds great!
As far as I remember they mention the Quicklogic chip in the "Introduction by the Founders" video on youtube also. But they mention only this chipset as the reason, why the V² can save up to 50% of battery.

Have you found some information that there are other features for saving battery life included or what do you mean by "explains at least half of the claim"?

No, it's just that the Arctic Link link contains this claim: "DPO [Dynamic Power Optimizer] has been OEM-proven to save an average of 25% of system single-charge battery life, enabling OEMs to extend battery life of their devices significantly without the added cost, size, and weight of larger capacity batteries."

If the chip vendor is itself claiming only a 25% average saving, it seems unlikely that Saygus will have achieved 50% in the V² implementation. It may just be hyperbole.

 

[frigidazzi]

I'm surprised there's no forum for this phone yet. There's already one for zenphone 2 which isn't out yet either. Hmm.

 

[andreas5232]

If the chip vendor is itself claiming only a 25% average saving, it seems unlikely that Saygus will have achieved 50% in the V² implementation. It may just be hyperbole.

Yeah, I see your point! But I think you have to be careful here, because Saygus states "up to 50%" and Quicklogic says "25% average saving".
So if there are light situations in which you will save nothing and some where you can save 50%, you would get around that average of 25%.
We just have to wait until the first real experiences are made, before we know how much the savin will be in daily use. But for now, it doesn't sound that bad for me - 25% is still more than nothing...

I'm surprised there's no forum for this phone yet. There's already one for zenphone 2 which isn't out yet either. Hmm.

I would really appreciate it, to have a own Section here on XDA for the Saygus V², but I think we are not enough people yet and since it isn't released, we don't even have so much to talk about. But I'm quite shure, this will change rapidly, as soon as this awesome device gets delivered.

 

[adamo86]

The note edge took ages to get hold of the forum came up really quick. I assume not much people are getting this device.

 

[frigidazzi]

The note edge took ages to get hold of the forum came up really quick. I assume not much people are getting this device.

Yeah there doesn't seem to be as much interest as I thought there while be. This seems like the perfect xda type phone to me. /shrug

 

[adamo86]

Yeah there doesn't seem to be as much interest as I thought there while be. This seems like the perfect xda type phone to me. /shrug

I think it's because when they showed the sample it wasn't fully functional also the 801 chip and no lollipop out the box.

Edited
Maybe the developers are waiting to see what comes out in mwc

---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 PM ----------

In the Wireless HD demonstration Video, there is a red LED blinking. See here: http://youtu.be/vzjkt2kl2ng?t=3m37s
And if you take a look at one of the official images (you find this on different sites on the internet: http://images.derstandard.at/2014/11/13/saygusfeatures.jpg), there are two LEDs lighting up next to the upper speaker.

Before someone asks:
I'm just really, really interested in the V² and can't wait to get my hands on this awesome piece of hardware.
I am no employee of Saygus and I don't get any money from them for "promoting" their phone or anything else.

I see two separate led notification I assume one is for the wireless HD transmitter and the other for notification